"No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. " - Barbara Ehrenreich, The Worst Years Of Our Lives, 1991What is the difference between the various martial arts? Why is one called Wing Chun Kuen, another called Muay Thai, yet another called Karate-Do? Aren't they just all ways of beating people up?
The answer may be obvious to some, especially those with a MA background. There are many degrees of differences. Some are quite similar: Muay Thai and Savate, for example, are types of kickboxing. The differences here are may be confined to the different ways of kicking, of the way the fighters stand when facing each other, differences in rules, or other minor details. Some MA are wildly different, like Capoeira or Systema. By and large, individual MA are reflections of the needs of the time, the personality of the individual founders(s)them and the cultural background at the time and place of when it was developed. For example, Karate-Do uses farm implements as weaponry because of the policy banning weapons imposed by the Japanese rulers of Okinawa a few hundred years ago.
Even in a single country, like China, there are thousands of different styles of Kung Fu and each may have at least a few variations. Internal, external, animal styles, grappling styles, striking styles, etc., etc., etc. Each may have different movements, defenses or ways of generating and/or applying power. To fight any random person would be, well, random!
Wing Chun is a very young MA in Chinese MA history, being only a few hundred years old, developed during the Qing Dynasty. The Qing were considered foreigners who were cruel and corrupt by the Han Chinese (the natives, as it were). Numerous rebellions were fomented against them during their reign, especially in the restive south of the empire.
Unlike, say, an animal style, which is obviously inspired by the movements of animals, or any other marial art which is externally inspired, Wing Chun seems to depend on a set of principles which cannot be found in any external source. While some movements have an obvious animal inspiration (e.g. a biu jee strike is very similar to a snake strike, which may show some of the shaolin roots of Wing Chun), each and every techniques must conform to a set of principles, i.e. a rooted stance, locked torso and hips, "ging" or "inch" power (a very sudden power expressed momentarily, and only when required), and a centreline focus. All these principles are found in a greater or lesser extent in any style of Wing Chun, whether the various traditional mainland chinese lineages or in the other more mordenized and simplified Hong Kong lineages.
These principles are not natural, i.e. nobody is born with these qualities, and they have to be drilled into a student with consistent practice to make it a natural part of their movement. So why did the founders of Wing Chun design an entire martial art around these principles? It would have been easier to design a martial arts with movements people are already used to. After all, a Karate punch does an immense amount of damage, so does a Tae Kwon Do roundhouse kick, an Aikido lock will incapacitate an opponent, etc. Martial arts have been doing damage to people for thousands of years! Of what use is a new, difficult to train and learn (at least initially) martial art?
Something in the time of the Qing dynasty must have necessitated the creation of Wing Chun by rebels. Wing Chun's principles would have been their response to a threat.
So what would these principles achieve? Discussion in the next post!
P.S. All these are my own hypothesis, based on my limited knowledge of Chinese history, and my personal experience of what Wing Chun is. If you know something to the contrary, or you know something to add to this, please comment!
P.P.S. Welcome to Kahar, my Wing Chun si heng (elder brother), to the world of blogging! Writing as Guan Gung, he has many years of experience in Wing Chun (since '90 or '91), the curiosity of a scientist, the playfulness of an experimenter, the wide-eyed wonder of a child and the single-minded determination and ferocity of a warrior. I look forward to reading his posts.
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